(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump on Friday rebuked his own daughter’s deposition testimony played for millions to hear during the House select committee’s prime-time hearingdetailing its Jan. 6 investigation.
Posting to Truth Social — the social media network Trump launched after being kicked off Twitter — Trump continued to repeat false claims about the 2020 election as he mocked the committee’s work and lashed out at comments Ivanka Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr made in videotaped depositions.
“Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results,” Trump wrote after she said she agreed with Barr’s assessment that there was no amount of fraud sufficient enough to overturn his loss.
“It affected my perspective,” Ivanka Trump told the committee about Barr’s assessment. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.”
Trump fired back Friday that Ivanka “had long since checked out, and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).”
It’s a shift in tone for Trump towards his eldest daughter, who served as a senior adviser in the White House, as did her husband Jared Kushner. Trump praised Ivanka’s work multiple times during his administration, calling her smart and intelligent.
Trump also once commended Barr, his second attorney general, as one of the “most respected jurists” in the nation. When Barr stepped down from his role as attorney general in December 2020, Trump said their relationship was “a very good one” and Barr had “done an outstanding job!”
Using recorded testimony from Barr and Ivanka Trump, as well as other Trump insiders, the House panel on Thursday night argued that Trump was aware of the fact that he lost but moved ahead anyway with a scheme to remain in power.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., placed Trump at the center of what he described as an “attempted coup” to try to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
In one interview aired in the hearing, Barr recounted telling Trump the idea that the presidential race was rigged was “bull****.”
Barr said he “repeatedly told the president in no uncertain terms that I did not see evidence of fraud and — you know, that would have affected the outcome of the election. And frankly, a year and a half later, I haven’t seen anything to change my mind on that.”
Trump on Friday called Barr “weak and frightened” and denounced the committee once again as the “Unselect Committee.”
Teasing what else the committee learned in its 11-month investigation, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said the public will soon hear testimony from former White House staffers who saw first-hand Trump’s reaction to the rioters.
Cheney said the testimony claims Trump expressed support for threats of violence against then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence ‘deserves’ it,” Cheney said.
Trump denied doing so on Truth Social, writing he “NEVER said, or even thought of saying ‘Hang Mike Pence.'”
“This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!” he added.
Last year, Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that he didn’t worry about Pence’s safety during the Capitol riot and thought he was “well-protected.”
“They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence,'” Karl reminded Trump.
“Because it’s common sense, Jon,” Trump responded. “It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?”
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